Angelo Paoli
Santi Silvestro e Martino ai Monti | |
---|---|
Feast | 20 January |
Attributes | Carmelite habit |
Angelo Paoli, O.Carm (1 September 1642 – 20 January 1720) – born Francesco – was an Italian Catholic priest and a professed member from the Carmelites.[1][2] Paoli became known as the "father of the poor" due to his strong charitable outreach, for which he received praise from a number of cardinals and other prelates while living in Rome. This extended to his friend Cardinal Giuseppe Maria Tomasi and to Popes Innocent XII and Clement XI, who both offered him the cardinalate, which he refused.[3][4]
Paoli's beatification was celebrated on 25 April 2010 in the
Life
Francesco Paoli was born on 1 September 1642 in
On 27 November 1660 he was admitted into the Carmelites at the convent of Cerignano in Fivizzano alongside his brother Tommaso. The two brothers returned home for several months before receiving the habit in Fivizzano, and then deciding to go to Siena to the convent of San Nicola for the novitiate (their father escorted them); Paoli assumed the religious name of "Angelo" in honor of his father.[2][3][4] He made his vows on 18 December 1661 and then spent a prolonged period doing his philosophical and theological studies in both Pisa – at the convent of Santa Maria del Carmine – and Florence.
He was made a subdeacon on 20 December 1665 and was elevated into the
In 1687 the Prior-General Paolo di Sant'Ignazio summoned him to
Paoli received offers from both Pope Innocent XII and from Clement XI to be received into the cardinalate – once for 21 June 1700 – but the friar refused for he feared that he might not be able to spend as much time with the poor.[2] On the offers he said: "It would have been hurtful to the poor whom I would not have been able to help" due to the stringent demands of the cardinalate.[3] He also befriended Cardinal Giuseppe Maria Tomasi who was the Cardinal-Priest of Santi Silvestro e Martino ai Monti.[4]
Paoli was playing the organ on 14 January 1720 when a high fever struck him and confined him to his cell. He died on 20 January 1720 – a Saturday – at 6:45 am and his remains were interred in Santi Silvestro e Martino ai Monti; the pope himself ordered the inscription on the tomb titling Paoli as "venerable" and as the "father of the poor" like others had called him.[4] There were a great number of nobles and common folk in addition to cardinals and those in the episcopate who attended his funeral. Pope Clement XI was pained to learn of Paoli's death and in a letter to the order dubbed Paoli the "father of the poor".
Beatification
The informative phase for the beatification cause opened in Rome in 1723 and concluded sometime later, but also oversaw its business in Florence and in
The three miracles that would have – in those times centuries back - led to his beatification never received approval so the cause seemed to stall despite even the order's 1908 effort at a General Chapter to revive it. But the impetus needed came in 1927 with the miraculous healing of a woman that was investigated on a diocesan level. That also stalled but was revitalized when the
The Secretariat of State announced the formal date for the beatification in a 9 January 2010 communique. Archbishop
The current postulator for this cause is Dr. Giovanna Brizi.
References
- ^ a b c "Blessed Francesco Paoli". Saints SQPN. 3 January 2010. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Catholic Encyclopedia - Venerable Angelo Paoli". Saints SQPN. 1 December 2014. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f "Bl. Angelo Paoli, Priest, (MF)". Carmelite Order. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Consistory of June 21, 1700". Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
- ^ a b c d "Blessed Angelo (Francesco) Paoli". Santi e Beati. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
- Attribution
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Ven. Angelo Paoli". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. The entry cites:
- Analecta ordinis Carmelitarum, fasc. I-XII.